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1 See the prescient article on "The
Politics of Frustration" by conservative Republican analyst Kevin
Phillips in The New York Times Magazine, April 12, 1992, pp. 38-42.
2 For a brilliant short essay on the rise of
the Nouvelle Droit see "Pograms Begin in the Mind" by Wolfgang
Haug, a transcribed lecture with a challenging introduction by Janet
Biehl. Green Perspectives, May 1992, (P.O. Box 111, Burlington,
Vermont 05402).
3 See magazines such as Scorpion or Third
Way published in England.
4 For a lengthy discussion of scapegoating and
witch hunts, see the September/October 1992 issue of The Humanist with
a special section on "Credulity, Superstition, and Fanaticism," which
includes the author's article on the far right's scapegoating of secular
humanism.
5 Many of these conspiracy peddlers are promoted
in the catalog from the California-based Prevailing Winds, and a spokesperson
for Prevailing Winds complained in a letter to the Progressive that
I had attacked John Judge as right wing. While I have criticized John
Judge's lunatic and undocumented conspiracy theories as "sincerely
motivated but misguided," and am deeply troubled by Judge's promotion
of Fletcher Prouty, I have never called Prevailing Winds nor John Judge
right-wing; nor did Toronto's NOW Magazine in their accurate and
devastating article on Judge that quoted Jane Hunter and me as critics.
6 See generally Hannah Arendt, The Origins
of Totalitarianism, New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1973 (original
edition 1951); Stephen L. Chorover, From Genesis to Genocide,
Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 1980; Richard Hofstadter, Anti-Intellectualism
in American Life, New York: Knopf, 1963; Hans Askenasy, Are
We All Nazis? Secaucus, N.J.: Lyle Stuart, 1978.
7 For a deeper understanding of fascism and
its use of scapegoating, see: A. J. Nichols, Weimar and the Rise of
Hitler, (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1979), Daniel Guerin, Fascism
and Big Business, (New York: Monad Press/Pathfinder, 1973), James
Joes, Fascism in the Contemporary World: Ideology, Evolution, Resurgence, (Boulder:
Westview, 1978).
8 Peter Fritzsche, Rehearsals for Fascism:
Populism and Political Mobilization in Weimar Germany, (New York:
Oxford University Press, 1990).
9 The author heard these arguments raised by
audience members during speaking engagements in late 1991.
10 The most useful general sources of information
on U.S. right-wing conspiracy theories and the basis for understanding
the role of reductionism and scapegoating in these movements are: Richard
Hofstadter, The Paranoid Style in American Politics, (New York:
Knopf, 1965); George Johnson, Architects of Fear: Conspiracy Theories
and Paranoia in American Politics, (Los Angeles: Tarcher/Houghton
Mifflin, 1983); and Frank P. Mintz, The Liberty Lobby and the American
Right: Race, Conspiracy, and Culture, (Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1985).
11 Holly Sklar's books and articles on Trilateralism
avoids the conspiracism that infects much writing about this group
12 Roger Scruton, A Dictionary of Political
Thought, London: The Macmillan Press, 1982, p. 169
13 Eustace Mullins, The Secret Holocaust, (Word
of Christ Mission. undated).
14 One highly- condensed version of this paper,
circulated briefly only on the Peacenet computer network, misidentified
Fletcher Prouty as a CIA agent. The error was immediately corrected and
in all other versions Mr. Prouty has been correctly identified as an
Air Force officer tasked with assisting the CIA. The error resulted when
I inadvertently sent an incorrect computer file to Peacenet. I apologize
for the error. Mr. Prouty has cited this matter as proof that my research
is unreliable. I disagree.
15 Mark Lane, Plausible Denial, (New
York: Thunder's Mouth Press, 1991), p. 124.
16 Spotlight, January 25, 1988, p. 9.
17 Plausible Denial, p. 119.
18 Telephone interview with Fletcher Prouty,
February 1992.
19 Telephone interview with Prouty.
20 Telephone interview with Skolnick.
21 The idea of a conspiracy of "Jewish
international finance" was a pet theme of Hitler, and can be studied
in Hitler's Mein Kampf simply by scanning the index of any edition.
Arendt discusses the myth of the conspiratorial role of the Rothschild
family as central to fascist theory in her work The Origins of Totalitarianism,
again there are numerous index entries.
22 The author attended the meeting and has
corroborated these assertions with other persons attending the meeting.
The author also is aware that ethical problems are created by reporting
even in broad summary the contents of a meeting of a legal team working
on a lawsuit. This decision was made only after much thought, discussion,
and a failed attempt to carry out private discussions to resolve some
of these matters. These matters were first raised by the author internally
to Christic staff and leadership in the summer of 1988. Other attempts
were made by the author and other persons to have these criticisms dealt
with between 1988 and 1990. A final private discussion in the summer
of 1991 originally involved the author, Christic client Tony Avirgan,
and Christic leadership. It was the Christic Institute's unilateral decision
to discontinue that attempt to resolve as many issues as possible privately
before the criticisms were made public. The issue is also timely because
if Christic refuses to deal with criticism of some of its work in the
case, and succeeds in placing the issue of the dismissal before the Supreme
Court, the almost-inevitable refusal to reverse the trial judge's decision
would take a bad ruling and certify it as the law of the land.
23 Interview with two former Christic staff
who were eyewitnesses to several of these incidents.
24 A strident attack on Clark written by John
Judis which appeared in the neo-conservative magazine New Republic, conflated
Clark's work with the LaRouchites and his support for a variety of liberal
and progressive issues. Rather than raising a principled criticism of
Clark, the article was a vehicle for a denunciation of the left in general
and its views on the Gulf War in particular.
25 Questioned about the obviously bigoted
material circulated by his current publisher, Prouty refused to comment.
26 Hulet, Craig. The Secret U.S. Agenda
in the Gulf War, (New Jersey: Open Magazine Pamphlet Series, 1991),
pp. 8-10.
27 Report from Iron Mountain is to
a large degree a veiled attack on Herman Kahn and the school of geo-political
strategy that developed around him at the Hudson Institute, an ultra-conservative
think tank. Several of the footnotes refer to Kahn and Hudson Institute
studies i.e. Kahn: Section 1, footnote 4 (p. 103), Section 5, footnote
10 (p. 105), Section 8, footnote 1, (p. 108); and Hudson Institute: Section
8, footnote 3, (p. 109). Moreover, the overall philosophy adopted in
the book is consistent with Hudson Institute study papers and Kahn's
writings. (See Kahn's On Escalation and Thinking About the
Unthinkable. Also of interest is the book by two former Hudson Institute
analysts, Edmund Stillman and William Pfaff who later rejected that school
of thought and wrote The Politics of Hysteria.
28 William R. Tucker, The Fascist Ego,
(Univ. of Calif. Press, Berkeley, 1975).
29 Background interview with activist in January,
1991.
30 Prouty says he was never asked to be on
the board of advisers but refuses to ask that his name be removed from
the published list.
31 Valentine, Paul, "Media Blacks Out
Drug Story: `Bo' Gritz Charges Conspiracy" , The Spotlight,
July 13, 1987, p. 1.
32 Front Man for Fascism: Bo Gritz and
the Racist Populist Party, A Background Research Report. People
Against Racist Terror, (P.O. Box 1990, Burbank, CA 91507), no date,
(c. Nov. 1991).
33 Final Call, June 29, 1992.
34 UFO Magazine, Vol.7, No.4, (Summer)
1992, p. 27.
35 LaRouche sued NBC, including Lynch and
correspondent Mark Nykanen; free-lancer Dennis King; this author; and
the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith for defamation. A jury ruled
that characterizing LaRouche as an anti-Semite, "small-time Hitler," cult-leader,
and crook was not defamation.
36 This information is from three former associates
of Ridgeway who asked not to be identified.
37 The boxes were purchased as scrap from
a janitor by the author posing as a paper recycler after the LaRouchites
were locked out of their Chicago office for non-payment of rent.
38 Persons who already are aware of the rules
of logic and the fallacies of debate should feel free to skip this discussion,
however many activists have indicated that they found it useful. It is
not meant to be patronizing and is included because many of the issues
discussed here come up in a later critique of specific propaganda techniques.
39 Telephone interview with Bernays.
40 The author has written a column on computer
technology for the legal community for almost six years (first in the Chicago
Lawyer and, when this was being written, in the Illinois Legal
Times) and is familiar with case tracking software, both early versions
and current versions. I base my opinion on representations made in court
documents and newspaper accounts regarding Promis. I have tested Lotus
Agenda based on copies given me by Lotus for review.
41 The following partial list was compiled
by Margaret Quigley of Political Research Associates: "Bush Linked
to Hostage Deal: Secret Meeting In Paris," Spotlight, May
20, 1991, p. 1. (Copyright Napa Sentinel, 1991, Exclusive to the Napa
Sentinel, by Harry V. Martin.); "October Surprise Cover-Up Congress
Doesn't Look Very Hard," Spotlight, June 17, 1991, p. 1.
(Copyright Napa Sentinel, 1991, (Edited by Spotlight),
by Harry V. Martin; "`October Surprise' Figure Has Intelligence
Background," Spotlight, July 8, 1991, p. 10. [Box] {Following
is another installment in the saga of Gunther Rusbacher (Spotlight,
May 20, and subsequently), the man who connects the Reagan-Bush team
to the delayed release of the American hostages in Iran in 1980. The
Russbacher story is an exclusive of the Napa, California Sentinel.} Copyright Napa
Sentinel, 1991, (Edited by Spotlight), by Harry V. Martin; Spotlight July
23, 1991, p. 10 "Reagan-Era Inslaw Scandal Refuses to Go Away." Copyright Napa
Sentinel, 1991, (Edited by Spotlight), by Harry V. Martin; Spotlight July
29, 1991, p. 10. "California Investigation Exposes Inslaw Scandal." Copyright Napa
Sentinel, 1991, (Edited by Spotlight), by Harry V. Martin.
[Editors Note] {Napa Sentinel editor Harry V. Martin, who broke
the story that has come to be known as the October Surprise, examines
yet another Reagan/Bush scandal known as the Inslaw case, which focuses
on corruption within bankruptcy courts and the Justice Department.}; Spotlight September
10, 1991, p. 7. "Inslaw Claims Another Victim." Copyright Napa
Sentinel,1991, (Edited by Spotlight), by Harry V. Martin.
42 "The October Surprise: Enter the Press," Columbia
Journalism Review, March/April 1992, and "October Surprise:
Unger v. Weinberg," Letters, Columbia Journalism Review,
May/June 1992).
43 Paul Rauber, "Tangled Webs." Express (Los
Angeles, alternative weekly), Sticks & Stones, column, November 8,
1991, pp.2, 28. "Hulet manages to deliver this patent foolishness
in a glib and convincing manner, which won him many converts among the
politically unsophisticated," p. 2; "Hulet has also been featured
on KPFA's own `Flashpoints' program, a production of the station's own
conspiracy-czar Dennis Bernstein," p. 28. [In retrospect, this assessment
seems a bit harsh].
44 Interview with David Barsamian.
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